


Five times Five doesn’t recognize Peter and the one time she does.

by runfive



Category: Zombies Run!
Genre: Female Runner Five, Gen, I'm really emotional about a certain character okay guys, Season 5 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-25
Updated: 2019-01-25
Packaged: 2019-10-15 23:05:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17538038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/runfive/pseuds/runfive
Summary: ***Season 5 Spoilers***In which Peter is a bad liar and Five avoids the truth.





	Five times Five doesn’t recognize Peter and the one time she does.

**Author's Note:**

> Edit: spoilers up to s5m30! (yes I just ran it. yes I did cry thanks)
> 
> I’m gonna be real I don’t know exactly up to what s5 mission this fic includes spoilers for because I’m only halfway through season 5 and not at the ~reveal~ yet but ya girl is incapable of spoiling herself many seasons in advance 
> 
> I just had to know if Simon lived after s3 don't @ me
> 
> Anyway I don’t know if it’s because I already know Peter is Simon but my son he is such a bad liar how did this boy ever trick all of Abel

They’ve settled into the base and are trying to work out sleeping arrangements for the night. They’ve decided to draw straws for the beds until they can work out more permanent rooms.

“Alright, Janine and I on the floor then,” Jody says, looking at the straw in her hand.

Peter shifts from foot to foot, looking suddenly unsure, “Well I mean, I don’t mind taking the floor. I’m use to it in fact! Might actually sleep better that way come to think of it.”

Janine shoots Peter a suspicious look. She’s been shooting Peter suspicious looks off and on since he turned up. She’s got a point he’s been shady as hell, but there’s just something about him that Five implicitly trusts. She doesn’t know why, Steve has done a lot more for them in the past few weeks than just find them a place to stay and she still wouldn’t trust him as far as she can throw him.

“Ms. Marsh and I are perfectly fine sleeping on the floor for a night, thank you. We shall seek out additional bedding on our supply mission tomorrow.”

Sam scrutinizes the room, “Well if we push two bunk beds together, Paula and Maxine can share the bottom and put Sara between them, and then Five and I can share the top bunks.”

“Sounds to me like you’re just looking for an excuse to sleep with Five, Yao,” Peter says, winking at Sam.

“Yeah I mean well that’s kind of the point isn’t it?” Sam’s face goes red as Peter’s words hit him, “I mean not so I can _sleep_ with Five, I mean so I can like actually sleep. With Five. I mean-not that I don’t sleep with Five but-I wouldn’t in this particular-room situation-”

“Waaiittt,” Peter draws the word out with dramatic emphasis and a devilish grin appears on his face. “You and Five-! Five and you-”

“It’s a relatively new development but yes,” Five says quickly before Sam’s ears can get any redder.

“Well I am happy for you two lovebirds. _Marvelously_ happy.”

Peter’s mischievous grin reminds Five vaguely of someone but she can’t remember who.

*

Five and Peter are outside Noah Base, allowed to get some fresh air for the first time in days. Five sits in the grass, digging her hands into the ground, trying to breathe in the fleeting feeling of freedom before Janine makes them come back inside.

“Race you to the shambler, Five?” Peter says suddenly, tilting his head toward the zom in the distance with a playful look in his eyes.

Five has to admit, the thought is tempting. She’s been cooped up inside for days and itching to stretch her legs. Then again, Steve’s told them that the minister’s soldiers had been patrolling the area recently, and the thought of facing Janine’s wrath if she found out they were unnecessarily putting themselves at risk…

“What, scared Five?” he says, raising an eyebrow at her.

She knows he’s trying to get a rise out of her, but the temptation to do something dangerous and risky is too strong, and she grins at him before putting one foot behind her, posed to race.

She’s fast but his legs are longer, and he makes it to the shambler a second before she does, slicing it’s head with his axe in one swift movement. “Hah! 10 points!” He says triumphantly, throwing her a grin.

Five suddenly feels like she’s been punched in the chest. “What did you just say?” she asks, her breath a little unsteady.

“Oh it’s uh.” Peter coughs nervously. “It’s a little game that we use to play. At the circus. You know.”

“Oh.” Five says, disappointment clouding her chest, though she can’t pinpoint why.

“You know, not that it’s any of my business but you look like you haven’t had any sort of fun in a while Five.”

“I’ve been busy,” she says, a little defensive.

“Yes, yes I know what with saving the world from a new maniac every two seconds.”

Five just stands there with her arms crossed, frowning at Peter.

“Okay how about this. Ten points for every zom and double for running past one of Sigrid’s men without getting caught.”

Five gives him a look. “You’re crazy. You’re actually properly crazy.”

“Maybe but at least I have a good time doing it, can you say the same Five?”

 

They come back to the base two hours later, sweaty and out of breath from deliberate near brushes with danger but Five hasn’t felt this light in a long time.

*

Paula’s bouncing baby Sara gently in her arms and looking at the two camper vans with her lips pursed. Five’s honestly not too happy about being crammed back into the vans again either, but she’d sleep on the ground if it meant she didn’t have to spend one more second on the Comansys ship.

“Well it’s not quite the size of a ship, but it’ll do just fine I’d say.” Tom steps next to her, eyes surveying the area. “We should send out a scout to assess the surrounding woods for anything suspicious, make sure there aren’t any more camera traps set up for us.”  

Paula nods, “And to clear the area of zoms while we’re at it.”

“I’ll go,” Five says quickly.

Paula frowns slightly, her forehead creased, “Five, I’m not sure that’s the best idea. The Minister wants you more than she wants Tom or Peter. If there are any more traps out there…”

Five shifts on her feet uncomfortably, already feeling caged before even stepping into the camper van. “I just need...some air.”

Paula looks at Five, a little too knowingly for Five’s liking.

“I’ll go with Five, keep her out of trouble,” Peter says with a lopsided grin.

It’s not exactly what Five was going for but she’ll take what she can get.

 

“Let’s split up,” Five says once they’re a few feet into the woods. “You patrol the left of the vans, I’ll take the right.”  She doesn’t mean to be so blunt in making Peter go away but she can already feel herself vibrating, the nervous energy building up in her body, waiting for release.

Peter looks taken aback for a second. “Okay, fine.”

“Fine.”

He gives her a funny look and then turns and walks to the other side of the vans. She exhales, her heart beating a little too quickly as she turns and walks in the opposite direction. She remembers every step of the layout of the Comansys ships. Every crevice Moonchild made her hide in, every ladder she climbed, every door she pushed open. Every step that led to the control room where she keyed in the code is seared into her memory, she still sometimes reruns the corridors at night when she closes her eyes.  

After a few minutes Five can’t take it anymore. She picks up one of the stones that litters the forest floor and hurls it at a tree. The branches shake as two birds fly out of the foliage and the leaves flutter down around her.

“You’re supposed to be killing zombies, not attracting them.”

Five jumps as Peter approaches her from behind.

“Shut up.” She’s still breathing hard, but not from being startled. Peter just looks at her.

“You know, Maxine didn’t mean it like that.”

“Doesn’t matter,” she says shorty, pressing her lips together. This past year she’d started to think maybe she was okay, but just like that the guilt in her chest had her in an iron tight grip again. The painful weight of being alive, the feeling that she shouldn’t be. At least Moonchild hadn’t been messing around in her head on the ship. Small mercies.

Peter takes a few steps closer and reaches an arm out toward her. Five freezes, unsure, but he just reaches up and plucks a leaf out of her hair. “Look what’s done is done. It’s no use blaming yourself now. It doesn’t help you and it doesn’t help you help other people.”

She stares at him for a minute, eyebrows creased. There’s something pushing against the back of her mind, something she doesn’t want to acknowledge. “What do you know?” she snaps.

Peter’s quiet for a long time. “Nothing, I guess.”

She turns to head back to the camper vans. As she’s walking away she hears him say quietly, “After all, how could I know?”

*

“Really, Runner Five, this is no laughing matter, this propaganda piece could do serious damage to all of us.”

They’re sitting in a circle listening to the rough cut of The Minister’s radio documentary that Peter got ahold of, and Janine’s looking at Five with a very cross expression on her face.

“I know, I know I’m sorry I just-” Five covers her mouth with her hand trying to stifle her laughter, “Sam? The criminal mastermind leader of Netrophil? With a goatee?” She dissolves into another fit of giggles.

Sam’s sitting there with his arms crossed, looking put off. “Well now that-that voice doesn’t even sound like me!”

“Can’t believe you’ve been keeping this a secret from us all this time, _Jerry."_  

Peter slaps his knee, howling with laughter, “Think you should be more worried about Jody, Five. Looks like you’ve got some competition.”

He wiggles his eyebrows at Jody who’s sitting with her face in her hands, shaking her head back and forth. “This is absolutely, _the most,_ embarrassing thing that has ever been done to me in my entire life.”

“Well, hey now!” Sam says, looking slightly offended, “I mean your fake radio drama persona being into me isn’t the most totally embarrassing thing that could happen to you is it?”

“Will you all please stop acting like children, I am attempting to listen to the rest of this broadcast,” Janine says, reaching over to turn the volume on the radio up.

They quiet just in time to hear Amelia say, “She used to stomp around Abel with those skintight leather cat suits, using a whip on anyone who stepped out of line…Wait, was that a dream I had?”

Peter and Five dissolve into howls of laughter again, and Janine’s face goes red, “Now really, of all-of all the preposterous things they could have said-”

“Not so preposterous, if I’m remembering some of the more fun times in the bedroom correctly,” Peter says under his breath to Five.  

Five stops laughing for half a second, processing Peter’s words. Then-

You know what. Nope. No. She’s not going to even touch that. There are some things she definitely does not want to know.

*

She’s sitting with her chin resting on her hands, hands on her knees, in the dimly lit room. Gunshot after gunshot piercing Owen’s body flashes violently behind her eyes.

_“Think you could have pushed him out of the way, Five? If you’d reacted a tiny bit faster?”_

Five clasps her hands over her ears, trying to will Moonchild’s voice out of her head.

_“I’m just saying, maybe your reflexes aren’t what they use to be. I mean, we could have died on those training grounds if it wasn’t for Veronica. You just weren’t fast enough Five.”_

“Shut up,” Five growls, digging her fingernails into her head.

“Er….Five, are you alright?” Peter’s there, slowly pushing the door open.

Five immediately drops her hands from her head. “Yes.”

“Okay. Then what are you doing sitting inside a supply cupboard?" 

“I’m hiding from Janine. She keeps trying to read her new two hundred page protocol file to me.”

Peter gives her a cheeky grin, “Think that’s her way of trying to help you Five. Don’t think she’s quite caught on that reading rulebooks isn’t relaxing for anybody but her.”

Five grins back at him before remembering why she actually was hiding in the supply closet in the first place. The smile slips from her face and she tightens her arms around her knees, trying to steady her breathing.

Peter pauses for a second then, looking at her carefully before asking, “Do you want me to get Sam, Five?”

“No,” she says quickly, shaking her head, “I don’t want him to worry. He’s barely slept at all this week.”

“Well that makes two of you,” Peter murmurs under his breath. He turns to leave and Five is suddenly seized with an inexplicable sense of loss. Somehow his quiet presence had already called her back from the edge of a full blown panic attack. She hadn’t noticed until now, her heart rate slowing down, her breathing evening out. She just feels...safer with him there. 

“Peter?”

“Yeah, Five?” He asks, turning back to look at her with his hand on the door.

“Could you stay?”

He freezes for a second, and his expression flashes from surprised to empathetic to something that doesn’t make sense...gratitude?

“Of course, Five.”

He sits down next to her, resting his hands on his knees and leaning back against the wall. He doesn’t say anything for a few minutes but Five can see him eyeing the bite wound on her arm. 

“It’s hard…thinking you’re gonna die and then coming back isn’t it?”

_“He would know wouldn’t he.”_

She shakes Moonchilds laughter from her head, trying resolutely to ignore her, but a memory stirs from her voice. She’s not sure if she thought of it herself or if Moonchild deliberately brought it up. It’s getting harder and harder to tell. She swallows the brief flash of panic at that thought and turns to Peter.

“It’s funny,” she’s not even sure why she’s telling Peter this, “I actually wanted to die two years ago. That time on top of the ice cream cone tower.”

Peter twitches for a second, but by the time Five looks up at him, his face seems carefully blank. 

Ignoring this, she keeps going, “But I didn’t this time. Want to die, that is. That’s good I think.”

She looks at Peter again and to her surprise, he’s laughing, “Yeah Five, not wanting to die is good.”

Then-something she doesn’t understand, “I’m really proud of you, Five.”

*

Peter and Five are on a mission to break into one of Sigrid’s old military bases. They’re in range of some of The Ministry’s long range radio transmitters which means no comms, but they’re not expecting trouble.

Of course trouble usually finds Five anyway.

Peter’s gone round the other side of the building to scout ahead, and Five’s on the roof, balancing precariously on on one of the concrete ledges. The base has been abandoned for years which means there shouldn’t be soldiers guarding it, but there’s a chance they could be spotted by some of the passing military vehicles on the ground level.

A gunshot rings out in the near distance and Five instinctively ducks her head, throwing her balance off. Before she can catch herself, she loses her footing and slips, tumbling over the side of the ledge. Her heart jumps to her throat and she scrambles to grab one of the rusty metal pipes that sticks out from the side of the building before she can fall all the way down. She catches herself on the pipe, but the force of the fall jerks her shoulder and she bites her lip to keep from crying out.

She’s clinging to the cold metal by her fingertips, trying to ignore the searing pain running up her arm that’s doubling by the second. She swings her other arm up in an attempt to grab the railing above her, and her fingers slip another half inch. Her heart thumps wildly and she grits her teeth, redoubling her grip on the pipe.

She really, really doesn’t want to fall to her death here.

Instinctively, she calls for him, “Simon, help me!”

He’s there in a heartbeat, reaching over the ledge and pulling her up by the elbows.

“Thanks,” she gasps, as he pulls her up over the ledge and sets her on her feet.

He looks at her, and an answer she didn’t know she was looking for is suddenly there. She digs her fingers into his skin where she’s still gripping his forearms.

“Ow, Five.”

She lets him go and he looks suddenly disappointed by the lack of contact.

“Simon.” She repeats, breathlessly.

He doesn’t respond for a minute, and for a second she’s scared he’s going to deny it. Finally he says quietly, “Well I said I’d always come for you didn’t I?”

She launches herself into his arms.

He catches her and wraps his arms around her, one hand gripping the back of her shirt and the other on the back of her head, tangled in her hair. She presses her face into his chest, breathing him in, and he suddenly tightens his grip.

“Simon.” She can’t tell if she’s laughing or crying.  Maybe both.

“When did you know?” He asks hoarsely, arms still tight around her.

“Maybe the fourth ABBA song in a row you sung to baby Sara.”

“Really?”

Five laughs into his chest, then pulls away and looks at him. He’s solidly there and real, and it’s not the face she remembers but it’s somehow so unmistakably him that she wonders how she didn’t see it before.

They’ve all lost so much. Maybe she didn’t dare to hope for a miracle. That a lost friend could really come back.

“I think…I think I always knew.”

“Really, always? Even when I was wearing a shroud in a circus run by a deranged madman and pulled a gun on you?”

Five grins and hits him lightly on the arm

“Mad and pulling a gun on me? Just like the good old days," she replies, before pulling him back into another hug.


End file.
